I'm somewhere over Colorado or Kansas or wherever. Don't know
what time it is 39,000 feet below me. My watch says 12:23 am, but that is
Pacific Coast Time. I'm here on the red-eye flying back from a weekend of
cuddling and spoiling my grand-daughter in San Francisco. I've discovered
that it is true: being a grandpa is God's reward for not having strangled
the kids. I also know why they call these late night flights "the
red-eye." Can't sleep. I don't know why. Airplane coach seats are so
plushy, roomy and comfortable. So, while I'm wide-eyed getting red-eyed
and my legs are entering rigor mortis, I may as well think of answering a
prodding "haven't heard from you in a while" message I got from Kenny last
week. He wanted another off-the-wall word for teaching. He wants
off-the-wall, I'll give it to him. I'll give him a single letter instead
of a word. I'll give him an "I." I'm going to tell him the same thing
I'm going to have a bunch of students at M.I.T. experience for themselves
in a workshop next weekend: the "I's" have it!
Almost every artist, photographer, musician, sculptor, writer,
actor, philosopher, architect, scientist, and even athlete proclaim that
the "I's" have it hand and foot over anything else, including knowledge,
technology, and technique. The "I's" are keys to seizing the day. They're
the ignition key that turns over the creative engine. They create a
"let's see" environment of experimentation, playfulness, flexibility,
spontaneity, curiosity, and unorthodoxy. It's the "I's" that draw from
that great storehouse of talent, knowledge, and experience. The "I's"
have it in a studio; they have it on a stage; they have it in a lab; they
have it in a study. Why shouldn't they have it in the classroom as well.
Oh, I almost forgot. What are the "I's?" They are: Imagination,
Involvement, Imagery, Innovation, Ideas, Invention, Intensity,
Incongruity, Inspiration, Interest, Inclusion, Intrigue, Intuition,
Invisible, Insatiable, Insight, Individual, Investigation, Integrity.
Now, before Kenny or anyone asks, I wish I knew was how these
"I's" do what they do when they do. I know I can't turn them on and off
like a faucet. I know I can't call them forth at will like some sorcerer.
Sometimes I think these "I's" are sneaky little critters that come out of
nowhere and surprise us with a startling, staccato "boo!" Sometimes, I
think they're sleepy messages that call out between thoughts like a
singing telegram from somewhere to awaken us. Sometimes they're like a
Parmenidian "self evident" toast that "pop up" when we're doing something
mundane; at other times, they seem to go off like a loud alarm clock give
us a "eureka" jolt when we're in the darndest places and least expect
them; and still at other times they slowly peeked out from behind
globules of "sweat."
I will tell Kenny that whatever these "I's" are, whenever they
come, from wherever they come, however they come, if he weaves them into
the fiber of his being, they balance work, commitment, determination and
perseverance on one end of the seesaw with joy, love, wonder, humility,
and gratitude on the other end. They insure that hard labor is not
laborious. They surprise, encourage dreaming, draw out an awareness,
forge a courage to do something unique, take dizzying leaps, unleash a
daring, open the mind and heart, visualize with richness and intensity,
change the way to look at things, compel an asking of "why," create a keen
attentiveness, create a capacity for growth, welcome newness, keep him
moving, re-choreograph, instill a spirit of adventure, enhance the ability
to go beyond the norm, endow freedom, educate, offer possibilities,
uncover potential, develop a thirst, sharpen listening, unbox the box,
fill the place with opportunities, polish each sparkling classroom jewel,
generate a joy, keep him constantly searching, place him on the edge,
excite a sense of wonder, stimulate a desire to explore, stir "the
juices," spark a curiosity, admire the beauty, point to the unseen, find
exciting new roads on which to journey, provide the vision, summon the
passion, and have him ride on thermals that soar to a higher heights of
teaching and learning.
And what better place for the "I's" to have it than in a
classroom. In there, as I just was reminded by the students' presentation
of their sculptures for the "Rodin Project," there is so much
extraordinary in the taken-for-granted ordinary, so much to notice in the
often unnoticed everyday goings-on, so much to look at in the overlooked
around us, such a loud drum roll to hear in the silent hum-drum, so much
that's all right in the too often seen solely as all wrong.
I was listening to my rabbi say last week that holiness occurs
when the ordinary becomes extraordinary, when a common moment is elevated
to the unique and celebrated, when the mundane is given value, when the
everyday become "the" day. It's the "I's" that's turn an ordinary
classroom into a revered piece of territory. They make it one of those
sacred places where all that can happen. They consecrate it as one of
those holy sites where you can make a difference and change some lives.
So, I'll tell Kenny that it's the "I's" that make teaching and
learning less of a struggle and more of a joy. A lot of people are in
motion, but the "I's" will give him direction as well. They'll give him a
kaleidoscope approach to a kaleidoscope of people. They'll take him to
places no one has ever been before. They'll draw water from his deep well
of strength and potential. They'll stomp on his toes and keep him
hopping. They'll give him new eyes and ears, and fresh legs. They'll
constantly put him in an altered state. They'll kill the "idea killers."
They'll make sense out of the "it doesn't make sense." And, as Einstein
said, they'll force him to attempt the absurd so he can achieve the
impossible.
Then, Kenny will see that the "I's" won't let rigor mortis set in.
They won't let him get stuck. They won't let him tire before he retires.
They won't let him die years before he's buried. They won't let him sit
in boredom, nor laze back in security, nor just stand around in
complacency, nor grimace in scorn, nor wallow in despair, nor freeze in
fear. They won't let him repeat yesterday. They won't let him follow the
crowd.
I'll tell Kenny that it's the "I's" that will help him help
himself and each student to help him- or herself find the greatness in his
or her own "I's." And, I will tell him that if he trusts himself deeply
enough to heed his "I's," they'll make him so rich he'll have to spell
"rich" with five or six "i's."
No masterpiece, to paraphrase Salvador Dali, was ever created any
other way.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
229-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
/ \__/ \/ / /\ /~\/ \
/\/\-/ /^\_____\____________/__/_______/^\
-_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\
_ _ / don't practice on mole hills" - \____
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